2007-06-11

My Blog Story

One of the blogs I read regularly is Shannon over at Rocks in My Dryer. That's where I found this, which I think is a great idea. So here is my story!How did you start blogging?My friend Kelly and I had a contest of sorts to start blogs, mainly I guess because everyone was doing it. But here is what I said on my first post.

"The main reason I started this blog is to get myself to write again. Now that both my kids are in school in the morning, I have a little more time to do it. I hope that somehow over time I can regain the sense of writing for myself. In high school I wrote constantly (mostly bad poetry) but then I went to college and "got educated" about how bad my stuff just might be. But you know what? I don't care so much anymore if it's good or bad. As long as I like it, that works for me :) So we'll see if this works to motivate me."

Did you intend to be a blog w/a big following? If so, how did you go about it?

No, actually, at first I didn't even make my blog public. I told family and friends about it but didn't list it. Finally, at the urging of my friend Mary (who is one of my main writing cheerleaders) I took the plunge.What do you hope to achieve or accomplish with your blog? Have you been successful? If not, do you have a plan to achieve those goals?

My main reason for blogging was just to get writing again. So in that, I've been successful. Now I'm starting to think about being a little more deliberate about WHAT I write about. One of my goals this summer is to have regular BOC (butt on chair writing time, as Mary likes to say!)

Has the focus of your blog changed since you started blogging? How?

Mmmmm, maybe it's just becoming more focused. But maybe not, I can be pretty random :)

What do you know now that you wish you'd known when you started?

I wish I had known more about design. Turns out that I am a bit of a freak about tinkering with the way my blog looks. As a result, people probably think I'm a little schizophrenic with all my changes. I don't have the money to get a professional template/design done. Anyway, I've learned that it's probably best to have some continuity, so I'll try to make only minor changes in the future, now that I have gotten it to a place where I am mostly happy with it.

Do you make money with your blog?

No, not right now. It's one of the things I might consider in the future, but I feel like I need to find my voice and focus still. I really don't know that much about ads, and how hard it is to get them, but I have a feeling that my blog may be too boring broad right now.

Does your immediate or extended family know about your blog? If so, do they read it? If not, why?

I think they all know about it, as do our supporters and friends. My husband of course, reads and is my biggest fan. Probably the other family that reads most is my crazy Canadian family on my Mom's side (Hi Crazy Lady and daughters! :) ) If any of you other family people are reading, feel free to set me straight!

What two pieces of advice would you give to a new blogger?

Have fun! Even if you are trying to make some money, it's not much worth it if you don't enjoy it!

Do your homework on what platform (blogger, wordpress, typepad etc.) is best for you. I have stuck with Blogger so far (and have been especially happy with it since Beta) but there are still some features I pine for (like delayed posting.) So far Blogger has kept my business.